India Face Defending Champion Test

Dhaka- Their sagging morale lifted after a thumping win over Pakistan, Indian spinners will now have to brace up for the ever-dangerous Chris Gayle when the team squares off against defending champion West Indies in its second match of the ICC World Twenty20 Championships on Sunday.

A victory against Pakistan was just the kind of shot in the arm that was required before facing a team that has world's most devastating T20 batsman in Gayle.

While a rampaging Gayle can take away the game at any point of time with his blazing bat, the Indian spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra and Ravindra Jadeja will definitely pose a few problems for the 'Jamaican Marauder'.

Gayle has minimum footwork as he believes in stand and hit technique. With Ashwin successfully employing a round the wicket technique to bottle up batsman and Mishra inviting him to come out by flighting his deliveries, it will be a challenge for Gayle to devise a counter strategy.

While spinners will hold the key, Dhoni would also expect that Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami don't bowl length balls to Gayle as it has a chance of consistently landing in the stands.

However, Indian bowlers will also have to deal with an attacking batsman like Dwayne Smith, who has the ability to hit over the in-field consistently during Powerplay overs.

Dwayne Bravo and Marlon Samuels are also capable enough to destroy any bowling attack on their day.

While Samuels might take some time to settle down, he can effortlessly shift gears as he had shown some 18 months ago during the last edition's final at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

Therefore one can expect Yuvraj to play the whole tournament unless something goes horribly wrong. It also doesn't make sense to select a senior like him and not play him.

It will be interesting as to how Indians will counter Sunil Narine. But it will probably be 'attack is best defence' policy. It was Dhawan who gave Ajmal the charge hitting three boundaries in one over and Mohammed Hafeez had to take him out of the attack.

Ravi Rampaul, Krishmar Santomie, Bravo and Narine make up for a good line up and one can expect an engaging contest between bat and ball.

Teams from:

India - Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain & wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Stuart Binny, Amit Mishra, Mohit Sharma, Varun Aaron.

West Indies: Darren Sammy (Captain), Samuel Badree, Dwayne Bravo, Johnson Charles, Sheldon Cottrell, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Krishmar Santokie, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Smith.

Stats and trivia

• India have played West Indies twice in World T20s, losing both. They won the only other T20I they have played against West Indies.
• MS Dhoni holds the record for most T20 internationals as a captain, 43, even though India have played the least number of internationals among the eight big teams.

Match facts
Sunday March 23, 2014 (day/night)
Start time 1930 local (1330 GMT, 7pm IST)